Russian propagandists create a fake Vinnytsia website

Insight News Media has identified a network of websites that Russia has created to target audiences in Ukraine. These pose as regional news websites. They have nearly identical designs and Russia's war symbol, the letter "Z".

According to the investigators, all of these websites are hosted on .ru domains; they were registered in Moscow, and they are being served from the same Russian IP address, meaning those “regional Ukrainian news outlets” share the same Russian server.

Besides spreading the usual Russian narratives, the content on these pseudo-Ukrainian websites appears to target primarily an anti-mobilization mood in Ukrainian regions.

The website titled "zov vinnytsia" posts statements by Oleh Tsaryov, the ex-deputy convicted for calling for a violent overthrow of the constitutional order, as well as Russian President's spokesman Dmitry Peskov and other "experts" spreading Russian propaganda. It also publishes videos of UAF cars being set on fire and cites the propaganda Telegram channel "Naspravdi".

Screenshot from the fake Vinnytsia website that posts videos of military cars being set on fire

The fake Vinnytsia website cites the propagandistic Telegram channel "Naspravdi"

The site is poorly made. For instance, the section with news about Bar, the city in Vinnytsia oblast, contains news about Tomer Bar of the Israeli army.

The  "Contacts" section lists persons who apparently can only be contacted through their emails on the website's domain.

Screenshot from the fake Vinnytsia website

As reported earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine detained two men who organized a bot farm in Kyiv and carried out media sabotage for the Russian intelligence by creating fake social media accounts and messenger profiles of the heads of the SBU and the Intelligence Departiment of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.